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Week 9: The Dragon is Real
Week 9: The Dragon is Real Freestone: 5/9 - 5/10 AS 937 - 938 When we left off... You arrived at Thundertree after dark and cleared the first buildings you found of twig blights and ash zombies. Then Selgaard went ahead and glitched into a word wall. What did the strange scratch marks on it mean, and why couldn't he look away? Nobody was sure, but he seemed capable of defending himself, so everyone pressed forward without him. In a fortified building to the South, Reidoth the Druid (a friend of Qelline) warned you of a dragon inhabiting the nearby tower. He offered to let you rest for the night in his bunker, but everyone agreed that there was no rest to be had until you purged the area of monsters. Reidoth warned you not to wake the Dragon, but did promise to grant his aide in any matter having to do with the region around Thundertree and Phandalin if you managed to kill or drive off the beast. Unfortunately, some of you weren't convinced the Dragon was real. Theories stretched from Wyrmling to Wyvern, but Clyde was adamant that if it did turn out to be a Dragon, he wasn't going to fight it. Spoiler Warning: it was, and he didn't. Reidoth also knew where the Herbalist Shop was -- and correctly described it as the center of a "kill box." With some careful planning and minimal difficulty, you were able to navigate the twig blights, zombies, and giant spiders surrounding it. Things got difficult when Favric, the leader of a teen-age squad of would-be dragon cultists, approached you to talk. They helped dispatch the spiders, asked you not to wake the sleeping dragon, and generally wanted to be left alone. A long debate, during which Ulfar snuck into the Herbalist Shop and collected Mirna Dendar's emerald necklace, ended with the cultists going peacefully back to their hideout. Objective complete, Clyde was ready to leave, but the hour was late and there were still monsters to hunt. Instead of leaving, the group decided to clear out the rest of the buildings, slaying a few more twig blights along the way. When the the old garrison was all that remained, Ulfar climbed the building and brought Quintus and Clyde with him, onto the roof to deal with the ash zombies inside. And then things got interesting. Unbeknownst to the rest of you, the cultists ratted your presence out to the dragon. The dragon, having heard the rumors, then saw Quintus with his very flaming and very magical sword on the garrison roof. This ended about how you would expect. Poison breath -- and lots of it -- kicked the ass of everyone on the roof. Ulfar managed to kick the dragon over the edge, and Dargrim harried it on the ground, but unfortunately its deadly bite and claws proved too powerful to match it blow-for-blow for long. Quintus kept Clyde alive long enough for him to stabilize in the middle of a zombie hoard, and Ulfar did his best to heal Dargrim with a potion. After bluffing the dragon into attacking the cultists instead, you all made a hasty retreat back to Selgaard and Pretzel... who weren't where you left them. Taking the best of the options available, everyone agreed to ford the river and try to make camp far away, outside the edge of the Deep Wood. You got lucky, and the forest didn't play any unpleasant tricks -- perhaps thanks to the calming influence of a nearby druid. Selgaard, Reidoth, and Pretzel met you at the river, and you all crossed together. At the forest's edge, you made a camp and hunkered down, praying that the next sound you heard wouldn't be a large, leathery pair of wings. Around Town Selgaard cannot shake the word Tiid from his mind. Sadly, he doesn't have the power to bend the Draconic syllable to his command. Yet. You are all shaken by the encounter with the Dragon, and it has made it difficult to find a restful sleep. It's going to be a long slog towards safety in Holzdorf, but as long as you remain within the dragon's range, you won't feel safe... ' AKA, you feel how you want, but everyone agreed to do some of that harrowed and haggard RP.' Reidoth turned back into a squirrel and scampered back to Thundertree some time before morning.